This morning in Milan the meeting was held in the prefecture on public order and safety, after the devastation of 17 and 18 October in the city centre. "I want to say without ambiguity that first of all in this critical phase comes the control and repression of these phenomena", said the mayor Giuseppe Sala. "I don't want to risk being ambiguous - he added -, I'm not at all against the fact that 500 soldiers arrive, they will also have a dynamic role", clarified the mayor. The Minister of Transport, Matteo Salvini, instead underlined: "Nothing will go unpunished, not only thanks to the security decree" approved yesterday by the Council of Ministers. The message is that those who want to return to Milan to plunder will not get away with it." While the Minister of the Interior, Piantedosi, clarified that it is "a new and complex phenomenon that must be addressed in a new way". And he guaranteed that, for next Saturday, there will be a "targeted planning of the forces in the territory", to avoid urban guerrilla warfare again. The military? "They will have maximum mobility in the territory, as already happens" in other cities such as Rome.
Sala: "Saturday will be a delicate day"
And on the fears linked to next Saturday, October 24, with the risk of further devastation, Mayor Sala confirmed that "there is concern, because the issue is that it is feared that there is someone in the square who resembles those who were in the square over the weekend, someone who will fight this presence, and then the anarchists". "So Saturday could be a delicate day for the city - he underlined -, I don't want to make invitations to citizens and say 'everyone stay at home', but Saturday could be a delicate day". Furthermore "it will be the first test to understand if we will be able to manage things differently", he concluded.
Sala: "I don't regret having said that there were few police forces"
"I don't regret, as I told all my colleagues, having said that in my opinion there were few police forces in the field, but it's not an accusation, it's an observation - Sala then reiterated, speaking about the controversy that had erupted with the Minister of the Interior - In my role, in my style, I don't hesitate in provocation, it was just an observation".
Sala: "On Saturday we will deploy all available local police forces"
For Sala, the strategy for Saturday if there were to be new riots in Milan is "more people, more police forces, more integration between the forces and, as far as we are concerned, the deployment of all available local police forces, I think 300 people". "It is clear that the local police are not confronting the protesters. The local police help bring those arrested to the police station - added the mayor on the sidelines of the summit in the prefecture -, we will also give the possibility to use our drones, so it will be of support, but within this rule of engagement we will put into play all the availability we have." "The arrests must be made, they must continue to be made. I believe the official number is 343 arrested, 20% Milanese and another 20% foreigners", he concluded.
Sala: "Avoid the risk of psychosis, they are scared in the shops"
The other day, Sala said, "I visited some shops that were attacked, the problem is not just that of material damage, I also have to think about the employees who are perhaps kids of more or less the same age as those who create disturbances and are scared". "We must avoid the psychosis of saying 'let's close the shops', because it is too risky for a city like Milan - he added - A city that has a history of participation of life in the squares, of commerce, that objectively is a risk". "It is clear that many of the tensions we see are concentrated in Milan, which will not only be Milanese but at this moment the attention is here", he concluded.
Piantedosi: "Nothing to reproach the police for"
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, at the end of the summit, reiterated that he had "nothing to reproach the Police Forces" for what happened over the weekend in Milan. "We found ourselves faced with an unprecedented phenomenon - he said -. Someone said that there were few of them, but the police were there and the number of stops and arrests proves it. If there weren't any, or there were few of them, who made them?".
In Milan the youngest identified is 11 years old
Meanwhile, thanks to the videos that have gone viral on social media, in which we see the very young people who took part in last weekend's riots, the police have identified two minors. One of them, an 11-year-old boy (traced in his school in the Barona district), Italian, is the youngest among those identified. A sixteen-year-old was also identified in Desio, Brianza. The youngest, who is in seventh grade, apparently entered a shop on Sunday during the looting in the centre. In a video on Instagram he is seen leaving the exercise with several belts. The sixteen-year-old, however, was filmed on Saturday with an Army hat on his head. Devastation, looting, theft and contempt of the Armed Forces are alleged against him.
